Each of the local troops gets a shift at the “most prestigious Girl Scout location on earth” during cookie-selling season, and the girls of Troop No. 30060 were all Samoa-ed up to be moving product at the corner of Bull and Oglethorpe so close to the Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary.

Not that Haas, her mother Julie, her little brother Jake and fellow Girl Scout Natalie Wright had time to appreciate the atmosphere. Customers came on foot and by trolley bus, skateboard and bicycle. Buyers double-parked on Bull Street and blocked nearby alleys, all to get their cookie fix.

The rush was interrupted only by a sudden downpour three hours into their shift.

“People wait all year for the cookies. Plus I think there’s something special about buying them here at the birthplace,” said Julie Haas, the Southside-based troop’s “Cookie Mom” for 2012. “And so many women were Girl Scouts back in the day they feel like they have to stop.”

Special memories

The birthplace cookie table is like the fountain of youth for the Girl Scout alums among the customers.

They take one look at a smiling Haas, a fifth-grader in a pleated skirt, green sash and thick-rimmed glasses, or the more senior Wright, a sixth-grader whose badge-covered khaki blazer screams responsibility, and flash back a few decades.

They share tales of taking cookie orders, writing thank-you cards to the customers among their parents’ co-workers and changing money at tables outside supermarkets and department stores during their scouting days.

“We used to sell at such-and-such …” and “We had a customer one time buy every box we had …” are familiar dialogues.

“It’s fun because you realize how big a deal Girl Scouts is for so many women,” Wright said. “I like hearing the stories.”

This is a storied time for Girl Scouts. One hundred years ago today, Savannahian Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 local girls for the first meeting. Low, then age 51, founded the organization to promote physical, mental and spiritual growth among girls.

A century and 50 million alumnae later, the Girl Scouts — and their cookies — are as iconic as Barbie and the Easy Bake Oven with American women.

And nowhere more than right here in Savannah.

“We saved and saved and saved when I was Girl Scout back in Ohio to visit here,” Julie Haas said. “Savannah was like this magical place.”

Hometown advantage

Savannah’s specialness for Girl Scouts is not lost on Haas’ daughter and other local Low followers.

Granted, the “Savannah sojourn” is an afternoon trip for them. But they do get the privilege of selling cookies at the Low house. Plus they have easy access to special events such as the “Party in the Park” and “Bridging to the Next Century” held over the weekend as well as an opportunity to volunteer at the birthplace.

A troop visiting from Detroit reminded the Savannahians just how blessed they are to live in Low’s hometown. They stared wide-eyed at Troop No. 30060’s cookie table as they waited for their tour of the birthplace.

“You get to do some pretty fun stuff being a Girl Scout in Savannah,” Kelly Haas said. “I’d never really thought about it. It’s cool.”

Business, meanwhile, is hot. Troop No. 30060 sells more cookies in three hours at the birthplace than they do their other regular spots around town. They’ll use the proceeds for a troop trip to Florida later this year.

Maybe the visit will include a trolley tour. They’ll bring their own cookies.

Adam Van Brimmer’s column runs each Monday. He blogs several days a week at www.savannahnow.com and also is a social media regular @avanbrimmer on Twitter and Daddy Warbucks on Facebook.

Cookie Season’s Final Week

This week is the finale for Girl Scout cookie sales. Local troops will be selling around the Savannah area through Saturday, including from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace at the corner of Bull Street and Oglethorpe Avenue. Cookies are $3.50 a box.

ON THE WEB

The best Girl Scout cookie flavor is ....? Read about Adam Van Brimmer’s favorites and weigh in yourself by clicking here.

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